Hidden
by plaguelet
Summary: Sequel to Alternates (2). Jack Bristow visits someone who Sydney can never, ever know is alive


Title: Hidden  
Author: Elizabeth Ann Lewis, lizbet@rhiannon.dreamhost.com  
Rating: PG  
Characters: Danny, Jack  
Distribution: Please ask before archiving  
  
AN: This was supposed to be a longer story. This was supposed to be an *actual* story, and not the really abrupt fragment that it is. Who knows, maybe someday it will be. But for now, I will indulge myself by posting this.  
  
This story spins off of my second alternative in "Alternates." If you haven't read that one, it's also on Fanfiction.net.  
  
For: Celli, who obsesses better than anyone I know.  
-------------------------------  
Hidden  
By Elizabeth Ann Lewis, lizbet@rhiannon.dreamhost.com  
  
January 2002  
  
The closest Danny Hecht got to the outdoors was the roof of the compound. There were no doors leading in and out, and he'd mentally dubbed the helicopter that airlifted supplies and personnel Rapunzel. During the day, and particularly when Rappie was landing or taking off, he wasn't allowed up on the roof.   
  
But at night, when the compound quieted, Danny came out and stared at the stars. They were more brilliant here than anywhere he'd ever seen them, not drowned by the lights of London or Los Angeles. It was a game, to try to figure out where in the world he was. Still the US, if the accents around him were anything to guess. Somewhere clear, and cold in the winter, with massive ranks of mountains falling away in the twilit distance. A full moon made them gleam in shades of granite and ebony, while during the new moon, they were suggestive shadows under the fingers of starlight.  
  
Flights of poetic fancy only took place on the roof. During the day, he was focused on the logical, the practical. His original realm of study had not been medical research, but in the past six months, he'd taken what had amounted to an order to "do this or die" and turned it into a passion.  
  
Shivering, Danny wrapped his coat more tightly around himself. It was the only thing that had kept him sane. He had no contact with the outside world. His co-workers didn't tell him about news or world events or, hell, even sports scores. They did not talk about their families, their friends. Nothing personal.  
  
Of course, they only lived in the complex for a couple of weeks before being airlifted out, presumably to visit their normal lives. He was the only one who stayed here all the time.  
  
He refused to believe he'd be here forever. That he'd never see Sydney again. He might as well roll over and die if he believed that. Someday, he'd get out and find Sydney and they'd live happily ever after... okay, after he revived her from the heart attack from the shock of seeing her dead fiancé alive.  
  
Danny gritted his teeth as a particularly cold gust of wind burrowed under his jacket. More than anything, he loathed Jack Bristow for doing this to everyone he loved. His family, his friends. Will was probably beside himself trying to figure out what had happened to him. But more than anything, Sydney, who came off so tough and could be hurt so easily.  
  
Get out, find Sydney, live happily ever after. And possible hit Jack Bristow in the face a few dozen times with his fist. Those seemed like excellent goals to live for.  
  
********  
  
Danny was halfway through his lab shift when on of his coworkers tapped him on the shoulder. "Visitor for you."  
  
Danny pulled back from the electro microscope and blinked, trying to return to the world of human-sized organisms rather than cellular. "Christ," he swore. The only visitor he ever got was Bristow. "Speak of the bloody devil... I'll be there in a minute."  
  
It was rather more like thirty before Danny made his way out into the hallway. There wasn't any annoyance on Bristow's face, merely a calm alertness that did not seem to have been diminished by a boring wait. "Yeah?" Danny asked.  
  
"Just coming to see how your work was getting along," Jack said. There was a raw scar on his cheekbone, newly healed. Danny focused on it with grim pleasure. ~Looks like someone else wanted to hit him in the face. Good for them.~  
  
"I'm fine, and you? The family's good, yes. How about that football?" When Jack merely stared at him without expression, Danny blew out a frustrated breath. "You get all the reports I file, probably more than that."  
  
"Those are the results. I'm curious about how the process is going."  
  
Danny shifted, uncomfortable just standing in the open hallway. "Look, as of four months ago the only experience I had in research was a class in med school. I'm not the senior tech here, I'm just one of the grunts. Or were you coming to check to see if I was going stir crazy?"  
  
"A little," Jack admitted. ~The man without expressions. God, how could he possibly be Sydney's father?~ "Are you?" Jack continued.  
  
"Am I what?"  
  
"Getting frustrated cooped up in --" slight wave of the hand indicating the compound "--here?"  
  
"Yeah. Going to let me out to go for a Big Mac?"  
  
"I'm afraid that's not possible right now," Jack said levelly. "If you want to get a rise out of me, you're going to have to wait for another day."  
  
Jack turned away abruptly, and Danny kicked himself. "Wait," he called out. "How's Sydney?"  
  
Jack didn't turn back, but he didn't pause. "She's fine. She's... fine."  
  
"That tells me a lot," Danny said bitterly. He groaned and dug the heels of his hands into his eyes. "Damnit. I am going crazy in here. I want my life back."  
  
"Don't we all," Jack said with ghostly humor. "Anything else?"  
  
Danny dropped his hands. "Yeah. Where the hell am I? There are mountains outside, and it's cold, but I don't know where I am."  
  
Jack turned back to face him. "Outside of Edmonton," he said briefly. "Alberta. Canada."  
  
"Oh." Danny processed the information. He knew absolutely nothing about Canada outside of the extreme east and extreme west coasts. "Thanks."  
  
Sighing, he returned to the lab as Jack walked away.  
  
********  
  
Ducking into the helicopter, Jack hurried to put on the headset before his pilot brought up the motor and deafened him. "Short trip, huh?" Jorge grinned over at him. The young man was perpetually cheerful.  
  
"Yes. Are we on time?"  
  
"No problemo. We'll have you at Santa Fe airport before anyone realizes that you were ever gone." The helicopter rose at a dizzying speed, and darted southwest for Santa Fe, sixty miles away.  
  
In silence, Jack studied the New Mexico landscape beneath him. There was no chance that Danny would be able to escape from the CIA compound, but it would be better all around if he didn't try. If he thought he was deep in a foreign country, out of touch and out of reach of anyone he knew, he'd be safer.  
  
And if he was safe, Sydney was safe. As long as SD-6 did not find out that Daniel Hecht was alive. As long as Sydney did not find out Daniel Hecht was alive.  
  
********  
  
The End 


End file.
